Once again the Scottish homicide statistics have provided evidence of a trend we would prefer not to be confirmed: that our young men are killing each other in increasing numbers. The figures for 2006-7 are particularly grim, with a 27% increase in homicide victims over the previous year. The 119 victims of homicide are also victims of the "booze and blades" culture: almost half the accused will have been drunk, under the influence of drugs, or both, and the victims are most likely to have been killed with a sharp instrument. The notion of a culture of violence is reinforced by the fact that in nearly three-quarters of cases, the victim and perpetrator were known to each other.

Since becoming Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill has made curbing the misuse of alcohol something of a personal crusade, setting out policies such as toughening enforcement of the law against selling to under-18s and banning cut-price promotions. Alcohol, however, is only one strand of the poisonous brew which leads to death on the streets. The previous administration had already instigated clampdowns on knife crime in conjunction with the police and begun educational projects to change attitudes to violence. Mr MacAskill's endorsement of the 10-year plan by the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) on Monday has already signalled his commitment to a long-term approach to reducing violence, but we do not want another 119 people to be killed in Scotland next year or the year after before the effects of the educational approach have kicked in.

The homicide statistics, bad as they are, do not reveal the high level of criminal violence that does not result in death. Treating injuries from violent crime is estimated to cost the NHS in Scotland between £300m and £500m a year, but one reason for the lack of precision is because victims frequently do not report the crimes. That must change, as should the collation of health statistics on cause of injury.

Inevitably, most homicides (two-thirds last year) are carried out in the Strathclyde police area, where levels of knife crime have remained depressingly constant for the past 40 years. On taking up his post, Steve House, the new Chief Constable of Strathclyde, vowed to tackle gang-related violence and make the streets safer. In his view, that requires a mixture of short-term and long-term measures, including a more visible police presence.

That puts the ball firmly into Mr MacAskill's court, since the missing plank in his overall policy remains exactly how he is to provide the 1000 extra officers so famously promised in his party's manifesto. A new ethos of policing which adopts a public-health approach to reducing violent crime will be most successful in achieving long-term change if it is carried out in tandem with swift law enforcement.

In the short to medium term we need to see evidence of all the agencies working together to break the mould that has produced a semi-acceptance of being drunk as an excuse for violent behaviour and an escalation of knife-carrying "for protection".